They should be above .500. They have enough talent to weather Gil’s injury and a short term injury to Butler. That’s were they were supposed to be.

I don’t understand why the expectations lowered so much. Gilbert has a strong backup in Antonio Daniels who’s a wily old vet and does a great job of running a team. They had two all-star caliber players and dominant scorers starting at forward. A solid veteran in DeShawn Stevenson. A solid centre in Brendan Haywood. And the deepest bench that the Wizard’s have had in years. If you put that lineup on another team in the East that hadn’t just lost Arenas everyone would say it’s a playoff team. Then add in they’re a group of good proffessionals who have played together for a few years and then the case is only strengthened. They should have done this good, they are doing what they’re supposed to.

I thought it was wrong to put Caron Butler on that high a pedestal (borderline MVP candidate mentions from all around the league). I still don’t understand why people overloooked Antawn Jamison’s contributions or the help that both forwards got from a good supporting cast.

………………………

On another note DeShawn Stevenson has really improved his game this past year. He looks so much more comfortable offensively, his ballhandlding is now dependable and quality, is passing is solid, his ability to create his own shot is where he has improved the most. Impressive. I thought Washington should have benched him for Nick Young once Gilbert went down, DeShawn’s greatest value was balancing Gil in the backcourt and was/had struggled offensively when he was asked to be more than a spot shooter. I thought Nick could come in and help balance Daniels with his scoring and penetration. But then Stevenson upped his level of play to a place I didn’t think he’d ever reach (it’s been a long time coming)[/i]. His improvement offensively has really been special (numbers don’t show it at all!).

I’ve liked DeShawn defensively since his final season in Utah, and I thought Orlando made a mistake letting their defensive stopper go [i](and I thought DeShawn made a mistake passing up that contract offer, I still can’t figure out how he made Washington give him that deal when he had no other offers)[/i].

This season I think he’s taken the next step defensively and is now real close to being an all-defense quality defender.

If anyone hasn’t seen it, Stevenson called out LeBron James after shutting him down [i](7 turnovers, 9-22, 1-7 from 3, shutting down Bron is a different qualifying standard than normal folk) a couple of days ago. It was pretty funny. Calling him ‘overrated’ and telling the reporters to tell Bron that he said that.

……………………….

Is there anymore news on Gilbert’s return?

Washington could turn into a real playoff sleeper if he can return in decent shape/form.

I made this post a couple of days ago on some thread talking about Gil, I don’t like the criticisms about his supposedly negative effects on the offensive end, I don’t think they’re true.

Gilbert Arenas is a fantastic player who gets an odd amount of criticism.

Ball Dominating Point Guard who doesn’t involve the offense
- Gilbert scored 28 a game last season, he also had 6 assists.
- Jamison and Butler scored 20 and 19 ppg respectively. Who the hell is he stopping from scoring? Name me another ball dominating guard who drops 20 a night and has two teammates that score around 20 points apiece? That was the highest scoring threesome in the league and he’s not involving his teammates?

Caron and Jamison are scoring 21 apiece this season. Great 3 point bump. Gilbert left behind 21 shot attempts and they scored three more points with their pass first point guard in Antonio Daniels.

Are you kidding me? Who is stopping from scoring? Who is he not involving in the offense?

They’re not the only players that are scoing the same, DeShawn Stevenson scored more last season. Songaila scored more last season. Antonio Daniels is playing 10 extra minutes in Gilbert’s absence and only scoring 1 point more. Haywood and Blatche are both scoring more because they’re playing more minutes, minutes that Eddie Jordan should have given them last season. Roger Mason, that’s the only significant difference and that’s down to hard work and improving his game while getting some of the minutes Gilbert used to hold.

Their offense is 13th in efficiency right now versus 5th last season. Gilbert knows how to run and offense and he does a very good job of it.

This team is even better offensively this season than before. They have added Nick Young and McGuire. Stevenson, Mason, Butler and Blatche have all gotten better.

Record wise they were leading the East by the end of January (27-17 after a very poor start at 4-9) last season before injuries struck. Now they’re below .500. Who’s he making worse?

It’s untrue. It’s a silly criticism that has no basis in reality. Just fans who don’t like seeing a PG shoot the ball so often. He ran a very good and efficient offense with two high scoring teammates and got good contributions from his supporting cast. He is a good point guard.

Only good things come from having Gilbert on your team offensively, lots of good things. The defensive criticisms well they’re fair, but it’s not like he’s the only quality player who isn’t a good defender and it’s not like Antonio Daniels is doing any better defensively while he’s out (age and rule changes, Daniels was a very good defender a couple of years ago).

I don’t regard Gilbert as an MVP caliber until his D improves but he’s certainly an All-Star and a borderline All-NBA talent without it. He’s a huge difference maker, especially in a playoff series.

I absolutely and totally agree that they’re better with Gil, much better.

There’s one number in DeShawn’s favour!

With 106 three-pointers this season, he’s on pace to eclipse his career total of 127 made during the prior seven seasons.[/quote]
Outside of that his numbers are fairly similar to last season (except for his FG% which is 10% worse)

DeShawn’s improvement has been huge, I’ve been very impressed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603899.html

That’s a good article on Stevenson, it’s talks about his improvement in general (since coming into the league) more than focusing on this season but it’s an interesting read.

character of Antawn Jamison and Antonio Daniels is part of it. Brendan Haywood’s turnaround cannot be discounted. But it’s the guy whom every fan wanted out of town after last year’s four-game sweep to Cleveland in the playoffs (during which he shot 19 percent) — wasn’t the one-sided argument that Juan Carlos Navarro was the future at shooting guard? — that most embodies the Wizards’ ability to change direction on the fly.

After all, that’s all Stevenson has known since he was drafted. [/quote]

[quote]"He’s a glue guy, a real warrior," Grunfeld said. “He did have to find a niche in the league. He learned a lot from John Stockton [in Utah]. He’s definitely matured. Bottom line, you can’t teach competitiveness, you can’t teach toughness and you can’t teach pride. And those are great qualities that he has.”[/quote]

knee blew up like a watermelon on a recent West Coast trip, and Stevenson still played as if he were on a 10-day contract rather than in the first year of a multimillion dollar deal.

And there are nights now — like last week against New Orleans — when Stevenson is counted on to be a star. He scored a career-high 33 points, his last three-pointer winning the game at the buzzer as his teammates leapt from the bench and embraced him.

Moments like those make a career of waiting and changing that much sweeter. [/quote]

learned to play defense, getting in the grille of some of the game’s most talented guards. He developed a deadeye, spot-up jumper from 25 feet and in.

I’d compare his level of improvement to the leap Ronnie Brewer made, it’s been that big of a swing.

Steve, you know you’re one of our favorite NBA riters on this here Interweb. Thanks for the shoutout. To make a total generalization, D.C.‘s just kinda proud of the team…we got up for LeBron a few nights ago, but the up-and-down season’s taken its toll. Attendance is slightly off, plus the buzz factor’s been ratcheted down with expectations; this team was hoping to contend for the Eastern Conference title, not slink into the playoffs. Plus, Georgetown had another great year—with every other area school challenging for the NCAA tourney

Who, the team had plenty of question marks entering the season—enough that ESPN’s Hollinger picked the Wizards for the lottery. Butler and Jamison were perceived (wrongly, as it turns out), to be slipping; not to mention, the “Big three” weren’t considered as elite as, say, the NJ trio
[url]http://weritegoode.blogspot.com/2007/08/mark-it-down-november-2.html“>”http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/03/lunardi_on_the_atlantic_11.html" target="_blank">http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/03/lunardi_on_the_atlantic_11.html[/url]—so college has replaced pro in the hearts of many local hoopheads. If only more D.C. fans felt the way you do…

Who, the team had plenty of question marks entering the season—enough that ESPN’s Hollinger picked the Wizards for the lottery. Butler and Jamison were perceived (wrongly, as it turns out), to be slipping; not to mention, the “Big three” weren’t considered as elite as, say, the NJ trio
[url]http://weritegoode.blogspot.com/2007/08/mark-it-down-november-2.html. Haywood was disgruntled; Daniels was aging; and the bench was largely unproven. Lose the de facto superstar—who’s often credited with turning the Wizards around—and fans were right to doubt. And let’s not get carried away with DeShawn, who’s had a few big games, but shot the Wizards out of a handful, too; a starting shooting guard should hit >38% on the season.